


Robin complex

by Hero_addicted



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Demons, de-aged Jason Todd
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-08-12 09:44:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7929967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hero_addicted/pseuds/Hero_addicted
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jason in the middle of demon hunting with Damian. The demon eats children so he turned jason into a child to eat later. This also seemed to mess with his memories. So now they have a Jason without all the issues a few of them but not all of them. With this second chance at childhood they get to learn new thing about him. Little secrets and forgotten friends. Exactly who was Jason Todd and did they ever truly know him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Jason and Damien were sent on a mission together to go after a real demon. Jason refused help going after the creature but Batman insisted Damian accompany him to keep him straight. After all this time he still didn’t really trust him. 

Though Damien isn’t against killing like other members of the Batclan, but he is the only one who’s nearly as experienced in getting rid of the supernatural as he is. He also has the best chance at stopping Jason if he got too violent than Dick, Tim, or even Bruce. 

The demon they were going after is supposed to be a simple job, but the thing turned out to know a couple spells. It threw a binding spell at Damien to keep him from moving but Jason came to his aid deflecting and defending Damian as he works on a counter spell.

When the demon realized it was pointless to continue fighting it attempted to flee. Jason pursued their target leaving Damien to finish freeing himself. His arms were free so he’ll be fine. 

Jason chased the demon down knife in hand ready to stab the creature until it tackled him from behind clawing him on the back and using it’s multiple limbs to hold down his arms and legs while it spoke an incantation, and clapped it’s hands together and disappeared. 

Damn it they lost the demon. It was the kind that ate children and with it running free who knows how many more kids are going to end up eaten by the cretin.

He staggered back up to his feet. Swaying awkwardly. He felt his blood running down his back and holes in his forearms, shoulders, and calves. He limped his way to Damien to check if he freed himself yet. 

“The thing got away”

“tt” He didn’t really have much to say about it. The demon caught him off guard and stuck him to the floor and he spent a lot of time getting himself free. “Will you be okay to get home yourself or do you require assistance?” 

He felt tired and his back was bleeding a concerning amount of blood into his jacket. He tiredly nodded his head. Sure he could use some help. He sat on the floor to relax and slow down to avoid losing blood any faster while Damien called someone up to pick them up. 

The Batmobile rolled up and they went in and started on fixing up the claw marks in Jason’s back. When they got to the manor Jason could pass out in one of the guest bedrooms. He could leave the next day. The injuries weren’t too serious the cuts in his back and the holes in his arms legs and shoulders were fairly shallow.

Jason closed his eyes and went to sleep on the comfortable bed. 

\---

The next morning he rubbed the sleep out of eyes and dropped the oversized clothes on the floor and looked for something to wear in the closet, nothing but bathrobes. Well it was better than the oversized blood sticky clothes on the floor. Whose clothes were they? Whoever it was he’s better clean it or those bloodstains are going to be a pain to clean out later. 

He probably better off not putting the bathrobe on yet since he still has the big clothes blood on him. He’ll take a shower then he’ll put the blood clothes in the wash. Alfred probably won’t appreciate him walking around naked and dirty looking for his clothes. He makes a dash for the bathroom.

He rinses off in the shower and washes his hair. He could feel all the grime run off his skin. When he finished up he steps out and puts on the bathrobe and goes out to search for his real clothes. He slides down the staircase rail and jumps down and scampers off to the laundry room with the big bloody clothes in hand. Everything was hanging and he looked around for his clothes. Nothing he recognizes. 

He finds three weird costumes a black and blue costume with a bird on it, a red and black costume with a wing like cape, and a new robin costume with a hood. What is with these? He’s seen Dickie’s disco costume with the collar when those are dropped off with Alfred to fix. Dick also leaves his costumes here to wash sometimes so Alfred says and to Bruce’s annoyance. The red and black costume looks to be around the size of the disco wing costume. Was he replacing the other costume? He would have admit it would be an improvement stylistically and this new costume doesn’t have the same collar so it would make it at lease a little easier to clean. However, he couldn’t place whom the blue and black costume belonged to. It was bigger than the disco wing costume but too small for Bruce. He’ll have to ask Alfred about it later. Where are any of his clothes? 

He searched and all he sees that could fit him are shirts and shorts he never owned. Even then they were a tad bit loose. He searches some more and decides on a black t-shirt and dark blue jeans. 

He pulls out the cleaned clothes in the washer machine hung it up. He was about to dump the big bloody clothes in the wash when he noticed the jacket and shirt was shredded in the back. It seemed like only the pants were salvageable. He threw the jacket and shirt in the trash and left the pants to wash when he goes to the kitchen for breakfast. He reached behind the dryer for a packet of peanuts and snacked on it on the way to the kitchen.

On his way to the kitchen a kid tackles him to the ground. The kid is about his age. They tussle until the kid pulls a sword to his throat. Even though he was on the ground with a blade to his neck he stared the kid down defiantly. He struggled to get out of his grasp but the kid was strong enough to hold him down tight. 

“Who are you and what are you doing here” 

“I could be asking the same thing” the kid pushed the sword closer to his throat. 

“I’m not repeating myself” 

The sword was dangerously close to his throat. He swallowed and he could feel the edge of the blade. He only recently started on escape training. 

“My name is Jason” The kid moved off him but still kept a hold on his arm. He tugged but the kid still had a firm hold. He tried to punch the kid with his free arm but the kid caught him threw his arm forward and got both arms held behind his back. This kid had an iron grip. He crouched down and attempted to flip over. The kid just held him down. 

“Tired yet?” He tried to kick the kid behind him but that just earned him a smack in the face. 

He didn’t have anything on him to fight the kid and he was too strong to let him go, but he is in Wayne manor. Bruce or Alfred was somewhere. He breathed in deep and screamed at the top of his lungs for both of them. The kid just shoved him forward and made him eat carpet. He struggled some more as the kid yells at him to shut up. 

“BRUU-mphff ALF-phmft” 

“Shut your mouth” 

“Master Damien what’s go- let go of the boy this instant!” Alfred came to his rescue. Damian let go of him. Alfred helped him up to his feet. He patted out the wrinkles in his pants and shirt. 

“Are you okay young lad?” 

“I’m okay Mr. Pennyworth” Jason looks up at Alfred with a smile. Alfred’s face pales like he’s seen a ghost. The man seemed to be conflicted between hugging the air out of Jason or fainting right there and then. He moves to Alfred’s side not wanting to be pinned to the ground by Damian again nor wanting to make Alfred into a shield. “Hey what are we making for breakfast today?”

“You can call me Alfred…and-”

“I am Damien Wayne son of Batman or Bruce Wayne” He never heard of Bruce having a kid, though Bruce did flirt with a lot of ladies during the charity balls or gala. He might be the boss’s kid but that doesn’t mean he needs to kiss his ass. He’s still a jerk in his eyes.

He rolls his eyes at the kid and looks back to Alfred “Can we make waffles today Alfred?” 

“I suppose…” Jason excitedly scampers off to the kitchen to get started on the batter. He loved preparing food with Alfred. He liked having an abundance of fresh food in general; especially trying out new recipes from books in the library, the library that he should probably get back to reorganizing. 

When he gets to the kitchen he has difficulty finding the ingredients he needs. He climbs up on the countertops to reach the cupboards to find the ingredient he thought was there was moved to someplace else. It was a bit frustrating but he managed to get everything he needed. 

When he finishes making the batter, wiping up the countertops, washing the measuring cups, and throwing away the paper towels he runs off to the library. He notices the library has been messed up more than last time. He though he at least got ten percent through putting everything to Dewey decimal but now it was worse than ever.

He starts pulling out books and putting them in their rightful place. He’s a bit annoyed that he has to start over again, but he doesn’t mind too much since it’s relaxing and it gives him a good look at everything Bruce has. He organizes a couple shelves and picked out a few stories to read for him self when he notices a boy passed out on a desk with a couple books open on some page. 

He carefully approaches in case he attacks him like Damien did. He considers waking him up. He looks tired so he’ll leave him be. He moves to a bright window and hides behind the curtains to read what he’s already picked out. There are a lot of new books. 

He’s not sure how long he spent reading until Alfred came to the library to tell them waffles are ready. He was going to finish this chapter before he was going to eat. He peeked through the curtains and watched the guy wake up and trudge out of the library for waffles call. He didn’t notice Jason. He guesses is good in case that guy is anything like Damien. He doesn’t feel like being tackled again. 

He grumbled about Stephanie on his leaving. Who was Stephanie? He hopes she’s as nice and pretty as Barbara. He quickly finishes up his chapter and considers leaving his pile there to come back to after he eats. Alfred knows to leave it alone though Bruce might think he’s making a mess. 

He puts all of his books in one pile and runs out to join breakfast. 

\---

Alfred looks down on the bowl of waffle batter on the clean countertop. He looks behind him and notes the sink is clean too. He stares into the bowl doubting whether it’s real or not. He didn’t make this. 

He knows that Jason made it. He looked up at him asking if he could make it for breakfast. He hardly needed help putting things like this together when he had a recipe book for any occasion. 

What left him perplexed was the fact that he did this now. As a child Jason would do anything to impress Master Bruce. He sought to be as good as possible and did his best to be upstanding in school and at home. He did have his little tantrums but he’d often simmer down fairly quickly. Now as a young adult he didn’t really care as much for Bruce’s approval and wouldn’t stay at the manor for long enough to do anything like this. 

Child Jason seemed to have the personality of when he was that age. If he remembers correctly Jason at this age would either be in the library, or following him around. He’s only started training and is not yet allowed to accompany Batman on simple patrols yet. 

If he thinks about it Jason is shorter than Damien and still a bit on the side of scrawny. He pours the batter into the waffle iron and puts the finished waffles on a large plate and sets the table. 

He remembers Jason always making an excess of food luckily now they had people t eat it all instead of it going to waste. Well the food Jason made rarely went to waste when it would always be gone before the next day. Which at the time made him somewhat concerned but this Jason appeared to be underweight and currently with everyone in the manor Jason made the perfect amount. He’s told Batman about the 24-hour disappearing food and the mystery has yet to be solved. 

Speaking of batman, he wonders if he should tell Bruce about Jason’s change or let him see it for himself. 

The manor’s residences begin to take their seat around the table. First to sit is Bruce he takes in the smell of the waffles and feels a bit of nostalgia but can’t place the reason why. The second and third to arrive were Stephanie and Cass who he theorize has a sixth sense for tracking waffles and Cass just follows Steph. Dick arrives with Damien. Damien does his best to avoid looking at the waffles while Dick tries his best to get him to show a bit of the same enthusiasm as Steph. Lastly Barbara arrives taking a seat next to Steph. She decided to stay the night to give Steph some pointers while she updates a few things on the bat computer. 

The only people missing were Tim and Jason. He guesses Tim probably fell asleep researching and Jason is just hiding away in the library with whatever book piqued his interests. He went to tell them breakfast was ready and waited for the big reveal.

First to arrive was Tim who sluggishly clambered up into a chair and lazily munched on one of the waffles. He commented on how it was good and continued eating the plain waffle. He wasn’t going to be awake and functioning like a human until he got a couple cups of coffee in his system. However, he considers denying him the caffeine so he’ll go back to sleep.

Eventually Jason arrived. The boy seemed to hesitate and shares a look with Alfred before approaching the dining table he wasn’t used to there being so many people. Normally it would be him and Alfred occasionally Bruce eating together. 

Bruce notices Alfred looking at something at turns to see a ghost. He drops the fork and nearly chokes on his breakfast. The table goes silent at Bruce’s coughing. He looked so spooked. Jason considers going up to apologize for scaring him or going back to the library and eating his hidden snacks. 

“Sorry boss don’t mind me enjoy your breakfast” he does a stiff bow he seen Alfred do quickly excuses himself and bolts back to the library. There’s no space at the table. He’ll…wait to eat later once everyone finishes eating. 

“Boss? Did you adopt a new kid and had him call you that to keep Damien happy?” Damien glared at Tim. Bruce started to get up to follow after the boy that couldn’t be who he thinks it is. 

He didn’t see where the boy went off to, but if he’s who he thinks he is then it’s a safe bet to assume he went to the library. He would have thought he was a figment of his imagination if it wasn’t for Tim’s confirmation. This is too surreal.

He walks into the library and finds stack of books pulled out of the shelves. He felt a familiar headache coming on and a slight amused smile tug on his lips. He checks behind a curtain to find Jason nibbling on a granola bar and reading a first edition of Dracula. This kid.

There was an awkward silence between them as Jason tried to act like he was absorbed in his book and hadn’t noticed him holding the curtain out and Bruce was trying to think of something to say. It was a shock to see the son who has long been grown up as a literal child. 

There were so many questions running through his head as he’s trying to rationalize how this happens. Though all that comes out is “You can join everyone for breakfast”

“I can eat later” Jason mumbles into his book trying to keep up the appearance of being distracted by the words on the page.

“You don’t have to” 

“It’s okay I’ll be fine” he takes a bite out of his granola bar as if to illustrate the point. 

“Why don’t you join everyone at the table?” Jason pauses mid chew. 

“…I don’t want to” 

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing”

“You can stay here all day but those people sitting around the table are still going to be in the house”

“Then I can go to the bat cave”

“They have access to the bat cave too” a flash of fear and a look of betrayal flickers in his eyes. He collects the books and jogs over to the shelves to put everything back in their place. Absolutely silent as he quickly picks the other books he was about to organize and slide them back rom where they were before. He can deal with it all later if Bruce isn’t going to kick him out before then. 

He can see the tired and grim look on his face. He did something wrong. He’s sure Bruce is done with him. He’s never seen Bruce look that way except when he was especially upset. 

Bruce watches Jason’s frantic movements. He struggled to think of something to calm the boy down. This is too weird. 

He knows he’s not perfect but he’s just learning. Was he really so bad that Bruce got new wards to replace him. One of them already pinned him to the floor in less than a second.

He leaves the library to find somewhere else to hide away until he can talk to Alfred alone. 

Bruce watches silently as Jason bolt out the door after he put away all the books including the copy of Dracula he was reading. Jason seemed very distraught. He’ll send Alfred to take care of him while he’ll sort out what happened to Jason and how he can fix it…


	2. Chapter 2

“What was that?” everyone at the table turned to him for the answer. He wasn’t sure what just happened. He wasn’t even sure if it was real. He looked to Alfred and the butler nods and leaves the dining area.

“Who was that?”

“Are you adopting another kid?”

“Where did you find this one?”

“Is it?” Dick whispers bewildered trying to comprehend what he saw moments ago

“Yes” Bruce warily replies “Bu-“ Dick sprung out of his seat and dashed for the direction of the Bat cave before he could finish.

The rest of the table stares at the seat that occupied Dick and back at Bruce. What exactly was going on?

Dick zips past Alfred before he makes it to the cave “Master Dick you should probably calm down a bit before you burst in I would think Master Jason is currently quite distraught ”

Dick springs into the cave to find Jason speed waddling around the cave with the sound of crinkling plastic following him with every step. Jason would check behind the bat computer and grumble. He’d climb over a rail and haphazardly swing his body off the side while his knees still held on to the rail. Dick thought he was going to fall off, but the boy would just come back up victoriously holding a fabric grocery bag.

Jason scurries off again this time going towards the direction of the armory. Dick follows him silently without alerting him to see what he’s up to. Jason stops for a second impressed by how the armory grew, but he didn’t have time to be enamored. He needed to be quick.

He starts pulling down a number of decorative swords. He pulls out the swords from their sheaf. The swords he takes are ones that Bruce never uses. He notices that the blades are shorter than the sheaf. So Jason shakes the sheaf and some rolls of money and bite sized candy bars tumble out. When Jason collects his prize he puts the sword back where he found them and goes off to find more stuff.

Mental note ‘have a family scavenger hunt to find little Jason’s stashes’. He follows Jason some more to a deeper part of the cave where he finds Jason reaching into a hole high up in the cave while clinging to a giant stalactite like a tree trunk.

Okay this is getting ridiculous. Jason is reaching into the hole with one hand in the hole and the other holding him off the wall while his legs are crossed around the stalactite. He’s going to fall. Time to reveal himself before Jason hurts him self.

“LITTLE WING GET DOWN FROM THERE!” Jason startled and nearly let go of the stalactite. He pulled his hand out and he was holding a rather large black plastic bag that looked to big to fit in the hole he was digging around in. Jason opened his mouth about to speak before he paled. He closed his mouth again and instead put his finger to his lips to shush him.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP THERE?” Jason started to shimmy down the rock formation. When he was half way down he hissed at Dick.

“What do you want to do wake the bats?”

“DROP THE BAG I’LL CATCH IT SO YOU CAN GET DOWN HERE CAREFULLY”

“Shut up!” Dick is going to wake the bats if he continues shouting.  
“YOU’RE GOING TO GET YOURSELF HURT!”

“Keep it down you’re going to wake the bats”

“WHAT?”

“Quiet down”

“WHAT?”

“I SAID SHUT UP OR THE BATS ARE GOING TO WAKE UP” he regretted the words as soon as they came out. The words echo off the cave walls and he can hear the little bat screeches. He drops down before the bat can fly into his face and lands in Dick’s arms with the plastic bag still in his hands.

“You did that on purpose didn’t you?”

“Maybe I did maybe I didn’t” He lets Jason down and hears the sound of crunching wrappers as he moves “Why are you up there anyway? And what’s in that bag?”

Jason thinks for a second and opens the big plastic bag and pulls out a big fluffy winter jacket to show him.

“Why do you have that?”

“Bruce is gonna fire me so I got some stuff to get ready”

“Why would he ‘fire?’ you?” The kid stowed stuff like a squirrel around the bat cave. Did Alfred and Bruce know about this? Apparently not if his stashes exist after at least ten years. How come he never found a stray candy bar everywhere?

“He’s got someone better now he doesn’t need me anymore plus he’s got a real son to do the robin thing” Jason grumbles and seemingly spits out the words ‘real son’ like it had a bad taste in his mouth. He threw his arms up dramatically. The gestured looked a little silly when the excess of presumably food hidden in his clothes obstructs some of his movement. “Face it I’m getting the boot”

“Listen here Bruce isn’t going to fire you”

“YEAH HE IS!” Jason screams at Dick “I’M JUST NOT AN ACROBAT LIKE YOU I CAN’T A QUADRUPLE SOMERSAULT WHILE KICKING THUGS IN THE FACE I DON’T HAVE A BUNCH OF SUPER FRIENDS LIKE YOU AND I CAN’T MAKE THE SAME DUMB PUNS LIKE YOU”

Dick was shocked “Jason…” He never knew Jason felt that way. Jason fists clenched was shaking with rage. 

“HOW ABOUT MY COSTUMES HUH? WHERE IS IT?” there was one costume that was his on display but it looked too big to fit him yet.

“Fuck how about my clothes? I’m wearing the bat’s brat’s clothes and at the table! There were so many people!”

“They’re family come with me and I’ll introduce you to them. Put down all the apocalypse survival stuff and follow me” he rests his hand on Jason’s shoulder a comforting gesture that only seemed to make the kid bristle but not shake the hand off.

“I’m not going down with those people especially not with Damian Wayne” Jason hissed “Exactly who is that kid? Who’s his mom? Where the hell did he come from? Why did Bruce never tell me about him? And everybody else there” Jason paused and looks suspiciously at Dick. The look quickly turns into a glare “Did you know about him?” Jason snarled but his cool steel blue eyes held a look that was nothing short of betrayal.

“Jason he’s not here to replace you”

“Well you know what I found among Damian’s clothes? A different robin costume, so evidence points to the contrary Dickface” There was a silent pause. He waited for Dick to explain that.

“Well Damian is my robin” that only seemed to make things worse “You’re still Bru-“

“So when I ask to meet the teen titans I have to jump hurdles while you’re out of commission and substitute as leader for your friends while they still think I’m you and I barely get a look in my direction but this kid who’s Bruce’s son gets a free pass to hang out with you all the time as your robin?” Jason said lowly in a mixture of shock and rising hatred. He’s taken him out before while he was robin, though that was mostly in…his later years. Right. Starting off he was fighting with Bruce and hanging out with the teen titans a lot.

“It’s not like that”

“Then what is it like?” How does he explain to Jason that he’s been turned into a kid again and this is pretty much the future? Jason waits for him to answer and when he doesn’t he scoffs, rolled his eyes, and shook off Dick’s hand.

“I got to go” He ran away from Dick with all his supplies. He didn’t believe it for one second a bunch of strangers show up who also happened to have a bunch of vigilante costumes in the laundry.

Bruce knew these people for a while and decided to never tell him or they were all here to replace him. If not all of them it had to be that Damian kid. He had his own robin costume while all of his costumes are seemingly thrown out along with all of his clothes. Dick doesn’t need a robin he’s got the titans to help him. He’s just trying to protect the brat.

He even woke up this morning in an empty room. It was his room and all of his stuff was thrown out. Nothing said get more than literally getting rid of all of someone’s stuff.

Not to mention the look on Bruce’s face. He probably found out his secret and hated him. No not hate was disappointed probably thinking about how to break it to him lightly that he wants him gone.

Dick tried to chase after him but he turned corner and disappeared completely. Dick looks around some more trying to figure out where he could have gone. Jason has to be about 10 or 11 yet. He shouldn’t be that good at the disappearing trick yet. Hell he’s sure that Jason still had trouble balancing on small ledges. When nothing turns up he runs out of the bat cave to find Bruce and the rest of the family.

“Jason just ran off”

“Why didn’t you go after him?”

“Because he just disappeared!”

“Do you know where he could have gone?”

“If I knew I would go after him”

“Well Jason is only what 10?”

“Yeah”

“He got himself killed at fifteen and currently the Joker is in Arkham”

“That’s not the point we have to find him”

“Is there any way to track him?”

“He’s not wearing his robin uniform. So no we can’t track him”

“So let’s get Bruce, suit up, and find Jason”

\---

He knew the moment he saw the look on Bruce’s face that he was canned.

Especially when he’s hardly qualified in the first place. Bruce’s got a real son now who already proved he could kick ass better than him by kicking his ass. He knew he was going to be booted out eventually. He couldn’t fight like Dick. He couldn’t do all the fancy flips and jumps as well as him. He’s seen the way Batman looks at Nightwing, pride. Even when they fought he still favored Dick more than him. 

Sometimes he feels like Bruce doesn’t even notice him.

Maybe he could disappear and start anew without batman he’s got some fighting skills. He could be a hero on his own like Dick. Or he could go back to thieving. Maybe he doesn’t need all the supplies. He could be like Catwoman. He’s got some hacking skills already and he’s already managed to steal some things and make some ‘pocket change’ behind Bruce’s back with him noticing his absence all that much. 

As he makes his way out of the manor he hears something behind a door. He peeks through and he sees Alfred and Bruce talking by a window. He could only just barely hear it but he’s learned some lip reading. So he could make out what they could be saying.

“Jason Todd my greatest failure” failure… he was a failure. He did his absolute best in school, even top of the class and he’s kept up with training. “What should I do with him?” He shouldn’t be eavesdropping. He should go before Dick finds him.

He starts to make his way to the door when one of those people at the table was guarding the door and every other possible exit. Unfortunately he didn’t grab any smoke pellets before he left. He took too long with spying on Bruce and Alfred.

So he’s going to have to use the belt, except this is a longer distance. He hates teleporting as it always makes him sick if teleports more than a few meters away. He has to go before they bring Bruce into this so he teleports as far as outside the manor gates. It’s exactly where he needed to be, but he can feel his stomach lurching and ready to turn itself inside out. He only just barely manages to keep down the contents of his stomach. Even going a few meters makes him feel a little lightheaded.

He checks his belt and finds it surprisingly full of fuel with extra pockets overflowed with the stuff to refill. He doesn’t remember ever having the thing so full but he’s not complaining. He luckily still has his other costume with his in case. His identity separate from robin, it’s a secret secret identity if you will.

He really needs to find his friend. She’ll know what to do if not then he’ll have her to talk to. She always knows how to make him feel better. The only problem is that she only know him as robin, though if he’s never going to be robin ever again it shouldn’t be such a big deal if he looks for her like this.

He walks alone carrying all his stashed food and checks behind alleys and calls out quietly for her. Normally she would show up by now. She’s really working up the build up if she’s taking this long to surprise him from behind. He starts to feel a bit worried for her. Her dad didn’t get her did he?

He runs around some alleys and the subway looking for her more frantically as time goes on. When she doesn’t turn up he guesses that she’s busy today, though that didn’t stop him from still looking down alleys as he continued wandering around Gotham. Every time he looks he could swear he feels something behind him

Meanwhile Jason calling attracted the attention of Clayface. He slithers out of from the dark crevices of some alley and he can’t help but perk up at the name the boy is calling out “Annie” it’s such a ordinary name so common but something turns in Clayface towards the child. Something about the way he says it that makes his being churn not in disgust but a feeling that could only be described as Intrigue? Nostalgia? Happiness? Fondness? In the far back of his mind, but it’s enough to make him trail the child out of curiosity.

He gets very close to the kid but never enough to alert him to his presence. He could kill this kid right now and he could go back to doing whatever he does. Though the something in his mind tells him not to hurt him. The same conscience that holds him back when fighting with the bat’s birds. 

As he follows the kid and the kid call out for “Annie” for the hundredth time he felt a mixture of annoyance and amusement. The conscience was amused while he was sick of following the kid around. He starts to think of the different ways he could kill the kid as the kid continues to search for this “Annie”. His apparent conscience is the only thing stopping him from acting upon his plethora of ideas for ending the kid.

It’s not until a half an hour that the batman finds him and start attacking him. When he’s occupied with Batman the kid gets too far away. Batman just silently stares him down before throwing exploding baterangs at him. The heat from the explosion hardens bits of his clay body. They’re no longer as pliable as the rest of him so it crumbles and falls off.

He makes himself melt down and trap batman with a part of him as he follows after the child again. Clayface gets away.

Batman attempts to shake off the piece of Clayface sticking his feet to the ground, but the substance just keeps shifting before he can get a good grip on it. He’ll need some solvent to remove it.

Bruce informs the rest of the family that he’s seen Clayface following Jason and tells them to proceed with caution. Dick informs him that he has sights on Jason and Clayface and he’ll watch out if Clayface makes a move to hurt Jason. Tim informs him that he'll gather what they need for dealing with Clayface.

All of this puts him on edge. Clayface can kill Jason right now and Nightwing couldn’t fight him off with melee attacks and electrocuting escrima sticks. They’re both at his mercy until Tim comes back.

“B it seems like Clayface isn’t doing anything”

“What?”

“I mean it he’s not doing anything other than stalking Jason which is weird but overall he’s made no attempts to hurt him”

“Even so continue to keep an eye on him until Tim returns”

“Ok oh and Bruce”

“Hm?”

“Who’s Annie?” 

“I don’t know”

He wasn’t expecting to find Clayface while searching for Jason. Hell he didn’t expect to see Clayface period. It had been some time since Clayface has shown his face.

He admits that he acted a bit too rashly when facing him but he was apprehensive when it comes to this version of Jason that he’s not entirely sure what to think of and Clayface happened to be too close to the boy for comfort, however this behavior is admittedly weird for the shape shifting behemoth.

As for “Annie” he feels like he should remember but he doesn’t. He couldn’t place it. If this Annie was around or was Jason’s age when he was actually around ten or eleven years old she’d be a young lady by now.

Right now they have to focus on the task at hand and that is getting Jason back to the manor and dealing with Clayface.


End file.
